Season 4, Day 1: Chelva to Chicago
Welcome back my lovely readers.
Yesterday we finished our holiday in Spain and travelled to Chicago to begin our USA summer tour.
We were sad to leave the beautiful village of Chelva but excited to get back on the road again. Scott Manion our Chelvan companion kindly drove us to Valencia where we caught a medium-speed train to Barcelona. For breakfast I had a Cheese and Jamón sandwich and an Orange Juice.
From Barcelona we flew eight hours aboard a Norwegian Airlines Boeing 787-9 to O'Hare International Airport (3.6 stars from 6,644 reviews), Chicago, IL. Jonathan scored the first point blood of the tour by booking us premium economy tickets for the flight, as they included two pieces of luggage per person and cost the same as if we had flown economy and paid for the extra bags (for our guitars). This was my first experience flying in the premium cabin and it did not disappoint, with the 109-117cm seat pitch and 140cm of leg room giving me ample space to stretch out my 176cm frame.
It's worth noting that I ate another breakfast on the flight and due to the time-zone change it was technically still the same day we left, so I've decided to give my 'Salmon situation with side salad' an honorable mention.
On arriving in Chicago we went straight to Avis and picked up James Van Der Beek, the 2019 Ford Transit XLT that we will be driving for the next month. James is powered by a 3.7L Ti-VCT V6 engine generating 275hp and 352Nm of torque wherever and whenever you need it the most.
James Van Der Beek.📷 Tristan Deck
3.7L Ti-VCT V6.
The rear recovery hook.
We ate dinner at the Golden Apple, a diner that features in the famous This American Life episode 24 hours at the Golden Apple.
Beth of the day goes to Liz for deftly dealing with a difficult car rental (including a very impressive phone call with Kiwibank), and for ordering a cherry pie entrée at dinner. Well done Liz. Jono tried really hard today but you fought back and showed him who's boss 👍